Bungie Dumps AI for Cheap Human Intelligence in Halo 3

"We just couldn't get the AI where we wanted it," said Bungie lead developer, Kenneth Malek. "We decided it would be cheaper to hire real people to play the Covenant in the game, instead of paying expensive programmers to redo the AI. It'll be a unique gaming experience for everyone involved."

To cope with the massive amount of NPC players needed, Bungie will recruit players from all over the world. "We'll have people from India, China, Bangladesh, just about everywhere there's poor people," said Malek. "We figure with eight million people working eighteen hour shifts, that we can satisfy our needs."

Malek also explained that while the story line will remain the same, introducing human intelligence into the game will give it infinite replayability. "One time the best enemy character you face may be controlled by Habibul Ashraful from Bangladesh, who only has three fingers, and the next time it may be Li Ming, who farms gold in World of Warcraft."

Gamers were intrigued by the possibilities of gaming against other humans in a non-PvP environment. Fernando Hoobler from Omaha, Nebraska said, "This will be kick-ass. Not only will I be destroying the Covenant, but I'll be virtually blowing up foreigners too."

Because of the change, players will need an Internet connection to play the stand-alone version of the game. Also, the change will delay the release of the game until October 28th, but a Bungie representative said "the wait will be worth it."